Post by Wines Not Whines on Nov 17, 2014 9:06:33 GMT -5
Some of you know that I ran both MCM and Richmond in 2013. I ran MCM as my "A" race, and I decided to run Richmond because some of my family and friends were running it, so I said I'd do it as a "fun run" and just take it slow and easy. I really did go out slow (or what felt like slow), but to my surprise, I ended up running Richmond 3 minutes faster than MCM last year. So after I registered for MCM again this year, I decided to keep Richmond in mind as a backup in case something went wrong at MCM. I was thinking about the possibility of being sick on race day, or bad weather (like a monsoon or very warm temps). At the time, I thought I'd know in advance if I should switch my focus to Richmond, and my plan would be to run MCM as a slow training run. But that didn't quite happen.
The weather for MCM was 20-30 degrees warmer than I prefer for racing, so if I had been thinking straight, I would've (should've) dialed it back and decided to do it as a training run. But I really didn't want to run 2 marathons again this fall, so I said I'd see what I could do at MCM. I slowed my pace a little in the first half, but it wasn't enough, and the heat and dehydration killed me in the second half. I was disappointed about how that race went, but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to run a second marathon. A few days after the race, I had pretty much come to peace with everything, and I decided I didn't need to prove anything to myself or anyone else by running another race. I also still vividly remembered how painful marathons are, and I didn't want to do that to myself again so soon. But then one of my training partners, who was also disappointed with her MCM time, decided she wanted to run Richmond. My husband was also encouraging me to do it. So I said what the hell, let's do this.
Race day was cold, but it ended up being perfect for running. I could tell my legs hadn't fully recovered from MCM, so I really didn't know what I was capable of running that day. I decided to go out at a comfortable pace and listen to my body instead of my watch. The first half of the race felt great - lots of rolling hills, but nothing too bad. My biggest gripe of the first half is that the water stops didn't have enough people handing out water. I think it affected me because I was a few minutes bit behind the 4 hour pacer, who had a huge group of people surrounding him (at least 100 people), so after they went through, the volunteers were scrambling to fill cups for the people who came next. At two water stops, I had to literally stop still and wait for someone to pour me a cup of water. And there was only about 1 inch of water in the cup, which wasn't nearly enough, but I didn't want to wait forever for another cup. After getting very dehydrated at MCM, and the inefficient water stops at Richmond, I'm going to consider carrying my water belt with me in future marathons.
I felt very comfortable for the first half of the race. I looked at my watch when we got to the halfway point, and it said 2:00:30. That was much faster than I was expecting, but I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard at that point. I kept on that pace until we got to miles 15 and 16, which were uphill and involved running across a bridge with a very strong headwind. I really struggled to keep moving there, and even though I felt like my effort was twice as hard, my pace slowed significantly. Those two miles took a lot out of me, and I think the whole "multiple marathon" thing also caught up to me at that point, because my legs were also starting to feel very tired.
I saw Bart Yasso at mile 16 and gave him a high five. My family was supposed to be at mile 16.5, so I was looking forward to seeing them. My uncle, who is also a marathoner, offered to jump in and run with me. Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes! We were back near downtown Richmond at that point, but still running into the headwind, which was tough. My hip and hamstring, which I had problems with all summer, were also starting to act up. I slowed down there, but I just focused on keeping moving forward. The last 8 miles of the race are a complete blur. I couldn't tell you much about the last part of the course, although I remember a couple of hills that I cursed. I just focused on following my uncle, who kept us going at a steady pace. They had water stops at every mile starting at mile 20, and I stopped at every one, mostly so I had an excuse to walk for a few seconds while I sipped water. But other than the water stops, I kept running. I made my uncle stay with me until the last possible moment, just before the mile 26 marker. The finish was downhill, which was kind of painful, but I was grateful that I could just coast.
Later in the afternoon, when we were back in my hotel room, I realized I'd dropped my driver's license, credit card, and room key at some point along the course. So that's a bummer. Amazingly, my credit card turned up -- another runner saw it on the course next to my room key, so they knew which hotel I was staying at, and they dropped it off at the front desk. My license is still MIA though, so I need to get a new one this week. I'm more tired and sore than I was after MCM, which I think is partly because of the hillier Richmond course and partly because of the accumulated fatigue of running both races. I'm ready for a nice long break from marathoning.
You are so motivational!!! How did you feel, encouragement-wise, with crowd support from MCM to Richmond?
I think my feelings about big vs small marathons have changed over the past couple of years. I used to strongly prefer big races, because I really relied on the crowd support to get me through, but now I'm really digging medium sized races. Not tiny races -- I still want some company on the course -- but now I prefer a race with 2000-5000 runners over a race with 20,000+ runners. It's less crowded, less stressful, and I can run the tangents better. There was pretty good crowd support at Richmond, less than at MCM, but still decent. I would run it again.
You're amazing. Even though I feel fully recovered, I can't imagine gearing up to run another marathon next weekend. I'm so happy that Richmond was a better experience for you!
You are so amazing! Congratulations. I'm so thrilled that you are leaving the Fall race season with a positive experience. I can't imagine running 2 in such a short turnaround. Truly a powerhouse!
Congratulations - that's awesome that you could not only run those both so close together, but to PR on the second?!? Nice work! Now enjoy your much deserved rest.
I'm so happy this race truly was redemption for you. Congrats on the PR, and your strong run!! I've never had someone jump in to run with me, but it sounds like a great thing late in the race. I'm glad your uncle could do that and help you keep pace to the finish.
Hope you recover well from this one! Sorry about the license -- the DMV can be such a pain.
Just now catching up on posts, so I'm very late to this but wanted to say congrats and I'm so glad you were able to have the race you wanted after all the hard work this year. You rock!
I have no idea how I've missed this - I was hoping you'd report!
I'm just blown away at the way your body and mind holds up to back-to-back marathons like this. I get so slumpy for awhile after big races, so I am totally impressed. Really, what endurance.
I'm so glad Richmond was a good race for you! Happy PR!!!!